Gray screen appears during startup

I have a later Mac Mini with 10.8.5. installed where the gray screen appears during startup. Have regularly backed up the disk except the last 2 days where I installed some important pictures which unfortunately were deleted on the camera.
Have now followed the following steps under support.apple.com/kb/TS2580
1) Disconnect, test peripheral devices and network cables
Didn't solve the problem
2) Perform a Safe Boot
Didn't solve the problem
3) Reset the NVRAM/PRAM
A menu showed up , I checked the disk, didn't show any problems
Then I restarted the Mac and the same problem showed up.
What's the suggestion for next step and minimizing the risk of deleting the pictures which I don't have backup on ?
Help would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry - the support link should be http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

Similar Messages

  • TS2570 what to do grey screen appears during startup

    anyone else having trouble booting from osx install disk after replaceing hard disk?

    Hello,
    Open console in Applications>Utilities, check the system log for the date/time of the last problem  & the Startup right after that for clues.
    Have you blown the dust out lately?
    Get Temperature Monitor to see if it's heat related...
    http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12381/temperature-monitor
    One way to test is to Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, Test for problem in Safe Mode...
    PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive
    Reboot, test again.
    If it only does it in Regular Boot, then it could be some hardware problem like Video card, (Quartz is turned off in Safe Mode), or Airport, or some USB or Firewire device, or 3rd party add-on, Check System Preferences>Accounts (Users & Groups in later OSX versions)>Login Items window to see if it or something relevant is listed.
    Check the System Preferences>Other Row, for 3rd party Pref Panes.
    Also look in these if they exist, some are invisible...
    /private/var/run/StartupItems
    /Library/StartupItems
    /System/Library/StartupItems
    /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
    /Library/LaunchDaemons

  • TS2990 after software update gray screen appears and no start

    I have just done a software update but after that the mac is not starting up, its just showing the start up gray screen and then shuts down, please advice how to start it and bring to normal.

    Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup 

  • I have two problems with my 2012 13" MacBook Pro. 1. Gray screen shows at startup  2. Randomly disconnects from network. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

    I have two problems with my 2012 13” MacBook Pro.
    Gray screen shows at startup
    Randomly disconnects from network.
    Any help will be greatly appreciated.

    First, open Terminal in your Utilities folder and paste this into the prompt line:
    sudo update_dyld_shared_cache
    Press RETURN. You will be prompted to enter your admin password which will not be echoed to the screen. Press RETURN again.
    Next, boot the computer into Safe Mode.
    Next, do the following:
    Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing the Drive
    Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
    Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
    When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
    Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
    Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

  • TS2570 I have MacBook Air late 2011 with encryption enabled the mac froze so I just shut it down by pressing the power button .But the when I tried  booting the gray screen appeared nothing else

    I have MacBook Air late 2011 with encryption enabled the mac froze and I pressed the power button to shut it down but then the gray screen appeared no wheels nothing just gray. I tried all steps but nothing helped. Worse than that only the pram key combination works I cant get the cmd-r or just alt or any combination to work??? Any suggestions would help. Thanks!
    P.s. I am on mountain lion with ssd encryption enabled.  The mac froze when the internet stopped the one from the cable (I use ethernet usb one) when I turned wifi on it froze.  I have disconnected everything when trying the steps except power cable.

    Boot into Internet Recovery (command-option-R at the startup chime) and try to repair the boot volume in Disk Utility. You will have to unlock the volume before you can do anything with it.

  • HT1492 The update-process of Xcode jan. 2013 ver. did stop whilst installing the iMac did reset and a gray screen appears with the message: Diskdrive 0 space available - then reset and gray screen again. How can I delete the update?

    After allowing my iMac updating about 80 apps, the process did stop whilst installing new ver. Xcode jan. 2013 - the iMac did reset and a gray screen appears, with white letters: 0 space on Harddrive! It wasn't any sign the harddisk had not space enough, to complete the update - until the reset occours. For us and our little company a catastrophic event.
    After inserting the original Snow Lepard Install Disk, the Diskmanager shows no error. No test shows any sign of error in Software. Freeing some of the empty space shows 12,5 Gb.
    Perhaps this is a new kind of error happen with this combinations of the new versions of Apps and Xcode...?
    Perhaps it's a know problem. I will be truely happy when finding a solution in this community.
    Kindest Regards from Scandinavia

    If it's slow on startup it would be extensions loading or LaunchDaemons starting up. 
    You should have a look in:
    /Library/LaunchDaemons
    /Library/Extensions
    You can count out anything in your home folder and it shouldn't put anything in /System as that's reserved for Apple. 

  • HT201262 Blue/Gray Screen Stuck on Startup: Best Actions In Safe Boot?

    My husband took his MacBook Pro into the Apple store for this problem a few weeks ago, but the blue/gray screen stuck on startup is back.
    We stabilized the system last time from running diagnostic utilities (Apple, Onyx) in safe mode. Is there anything else we should be doing for self help? He's upgraded to Mountain Lion and made all OS updates. Advice is welcome.

    See OS X Mountain Lion- If you see a blue screen at startup. I suggest the last recommendation - reinstall OS X:
    Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing the Drive
    Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
    Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
    When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
    Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
    Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

  • Hi I replaced my hard drive on macbook and I want to install mac osx10.5 with the CD that came with the macbook. When I run the CD after a while I get the page showing language options for 2 second then a gray screen appears and nothing happens

    Hi I replaced my hard drive on macbook and I want to install mac osx10.5 with the CD that came with the macbook. When I run the CD after a while I get the page showing language options for 2 second then a gray screen appears and nothing happens. I partitioned my hard drive and I tried installing Microsoft windows and that worked just fine.  But I do not understand why it wont install mac os x 10.5?????  PLEASE HELP ME.  Thanks  Hamid

    Try a new post in the 10.5 Installation forum.
    DALE

  • A gray screen appears insructing me to restart the computer

    Why does a gray screen appear instructing me that I have to restart my computer?

    Hi Donald
    Kernel Panics can be caused by either Hardware or Software.
    For starters see > http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3742
    Better yet >  http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html
    Dennis

  • After upgrade to Mavericks, a new gray screen appears just before the regular login screen.  The new screen appears for a few seconds with several boxes full of unidentifiable figures.  How can I remove?

    OS X Mavericks Upgrade Issue
    Now when I boot my iMac, a new gray screen appears for a few seconds following the Apple screen and just before the login screen.  The new screen shows several boxes with unidentifiable figures in them.  It has become annoying because it has never appeared before.   Anyone know of a way to stop this screen (of garbage) from showing?  Thanks…Larry

    It's possible that a PRAM reset may solve the problem:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

  • Gray screen appears after sleep?

    Hi Everyone! I received a brand new 13 inch. Macbook Pro Retina, 1 week ago. Until today, things have been working fine. I used it straight out of the box with no need to charge for a few days, left it off for a few days, and then on Saturday evening, I used it again, only having to charge once for an hour on Sunday. The computer was working great, until this morning, when upon waking the computer from sleep, a completely dark gray screen appeared. After 30 sec., the login screen loaded. I shut down the computer and restarted it, thinking that might help. Unfortunately, this same issue has happened 3 - 4 other times today. When waking from sleep, a dark gray screen appears for a minute before loading the login screen. Is this a common issue? Is it hardware or os related? Is there a fix for it? Should I return the computer and get a new one? I need this computer to last a few years. Any help is appreciated!

    The warranty entitles you to complimentary phone support for the first 90 days of ownership.
    If you bought the product in the U.S. directly from Apple (not from a reseller), you have 14 days from the date of delivery in which to exchange or return it for a refund. In other countries, the return policy may be different. If you bought from a reseller, its return policy applies.

  • Gray screen with Apple logo and spinning gear appears during startup

    I followed the steps outlined in order in Apple Support by disconnecting all peripheral devices, performing a safe boot, and resetting the NVRAM / PRAM. Nothing changed - the gray screen still appeared when restarting the computer. Next I tried bringing up the Mac OS X Install disc using Disk Utility. I was able to get into Disk Utility but it would not allow me to click "Repair Disk" for the hard drive. I could only select "Verify Disk". So I did that then and the results in red were as follows:
    -Invalid node structure
    -The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaiired.
    Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.
    So this is where I'm at, unsure as exactly how to proceed from here. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

    Well I tried entering in (after the "umount/dev/") disk0s1, disk0, disk1, disk2 etc. all to no avail. So I'm just recopying below exactly what shows up on screen in the Terminal once I enter "df" so that maybe you can better detect that way what my volume should be. Thanks David!
    -bash-3.2# df
    Filesystem 512-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on
    /dev/disk1s3 15513624 15414064 0 100% /
    devfs 217 217 0 100% /dev
    fdesc 2 2 0 100% /dev
    /dev/disk2 934 12 876 2% /Volumes
    /dev/disk3 934 124 764 14% /private/var/tmp
    /dev/disk4 190 22 160 13% /private/var/run
    /dev/disk5 190 4 178 3% /Library/Preferences

  • Security Agent is suddently appearing during startup and on my desktop

    Hello,
    So recently, during startup while my login/password page is loading, I'll see "Security Agent" appear in the upper left corner of my screen. Then ususally, maybe a half hour to an hour after I've started up, it appears on my dock, running. I can quit from the dock that's the only option I have. It will usually reappear randomly after that throughout the day.
    Anyone have any ideas of what this is all about?
    thanks,
    Tucky

    Hello,
    Actually "Security Agent" is part of the OS. Here's a apple developers page explaining. http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Security/Conceptual/SecurityOverview/Architecture/chapter_2_section5.html
    I just don't understand why a normally invisble operation is suddently appearing out in my desktop.
    You can read my computer stats below. But in case you can't I'm on an aluminum power book running 10.4.7
    thanks

  • Help: Macbook freezes after sleep and gray screen freeze on startup

    I've got a new MacBook (45 days old, minimal usage) and I'm starting to have some problems.
    When my computer goes to sleep after inactivity I have a hard time waking it. The screen turns on right away but the mouse/cursor remains frozen. The computer does not respond to any keyboard commands. I usually have to reboot the machine when this happens. I noticed this problem a few weeks ago and it has since become more and more frequent.
    I've also noticed that with some regularity my computer freezes on the gray screen during start up and never reaches the mac icon. This has become more and more frequent since I first noticed the initial problem and happens one in every 3 or 4 startups.
    I haven't installed any new software except for the regular software upgrades. Nothing extraordinary.
    Is it possible that these problems are related? Am I doing something wrong?
    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    The grey screen on startup may be the known issue, especially if you start to get vertical lines on the screen. If you can reboot using PRAM reset, go to the displays control panel, set the resolution to something besides your current resolution, then revert to your original setting. That should fix that part.
    As far as the freezing after sleep goes, I had a similar issue where the macbook would not actually go to sleep (white light stayed solid), and opening the lid would result in a dimmed screen that I had to force-shut down the computer to get out of. After sending it in for RSD, this seems to have been resolved.

  • After installing Maverick my computer, when restarted, only a gray screen appeared. My computer won't work at all...what happened?

    After installing Maverick my computer shut down and when it restarted I couldn't get to the home screen. The monitor was grey with some dark grey shapes, it sounded like it was constantly running a program. My computer is sick!! HELP

    Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
    Step 1
    The first step in dealing with a startup failure is to secure the data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since the last backup, you can skip this step.   
    There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to start. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
         a. Start up from the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
    b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, start the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
    c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
    Step 2
    If the startup process stops at a blank gray screen with no Apple logo or spinning "daisy wheel," then the startup volume may be full. If you had previously seen warnings of low disk space, this is almost certainly the case. You might be able to start up in safe mode even though you can't start up normally. Otherwise, start up from an external drive, or else use either of the techniques in Steps 1b and 1c to mount the internal drive and delete some files. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation.
    Step 3
    Sometimes a startup failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
    Step 4
    If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
    Step 5
    If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
    Step 6
    Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to start up, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can start up now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
    Step 7
    If you've started from an external storage device, make sure that the internal startup volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
    Start up in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
    Safe mode is much slower to start and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
    The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know the login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
    When you start up in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, the startup volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 10. If you ever have another problem with the drive, replace it immediately.
    If you can start and log in in safe mode, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on the startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then restart as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
    If the startup process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
    Step 8
    Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select the startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
    This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then restart as usual.
    Step 9
    Reinstall the OS. If the Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
    Step 10
    Do as in Step 9, but this time erase the startup volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically restart into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer the data from a Time Machine or other backup.
    Step 11
    This step applies only to models that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery: all Mac Pro's and some others (not current models.) Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a startup failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
    Step 12
    If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

Maybe you are looking for